A local designer is making clothes for HBCUs across the country—and catching the attention of sports celebs and music icons

Tucked away off Bluebonnet Boulevard, the Anthony Lawrence Collection isn’t your typical collegiate apparel store. Sure, there are tees and sweatshirts emblazoned with logos for schools like LSU and Southern University. But the difference is in the details.

“We focus on breathing life into fashion through different patterns, fabrics and designs,” founder De’fron Fobb says. “Our main vision is to tailor culturally inspired garments with legacy and legendary influence.”

Fobb’s journey into collegiate apparel began when he was working at Tiger Mania, the now-shuttered LSU merch retailer. There, he noticed something that didn’t sit right. Big schools had plenty of high-quality merch. HBCUs? Not so much. So, he did something about it.

After a lot of research and a lot of hustle, the Anthony Lawrence Collection evolved into what it is today: a brand licensed to sell for 17 colleges, most of them HBCUs. Fobb named it the Anthony Lawrence Collection in honor of his father, who passed away while Fobb was a freshman at Southern.

All of the collection’s offerings are designed by Fobb himself.

“Nothing you see in the Anthony Lawrence Collection is something you see by any other brand,” he says.

The collection’s influence now stretches far beyond Baton Rouge. Fobb’s designs have been sported by household names like Boosie Badazz, Lil Wayne, Usher and “Coach Prime.” Yes, that “Coach Prime”—as in Deion Sanders.

DeSean Jackson, the former NFL wide receiver and new head coach at Delaware State University, will soon join that number.

Despite the star power, Fobb keeps the focus local.

His current storefront opened in 2022, and though he does have his sights set on opening up shop in three or four other states at some point down the line, his priority for now is to keep building his hometown presence.

“We would love the store to be a staple of Baton Rouge,” he says. “Right now, we’re just focused on the flagship store in Baton Rouge and bringing in bigger and better opportunities.”

For Fobb, growth isn’t just about signing on more colleges. In fact, he’s selective about the schools he partners with, preferring to build authentic relationships over striking licensing deals that are purely transactional.

Current partners include Louisiana colleges like Grambling State, LSU and Southern, as well as schools across state lines like the University of Colorado, Howard University and Morehouse College.

“Nothing you see in the Anthony Lawrence Collection is something you see by any other brand.”

[—Founder De’fron Fobb]

“We like to be involved with our colleges,” he says. “We go into the schools and give back. That’s one of our biggest things—being there for the community.”

That involvement takes many forms. The Anthony Lawrence Collection donates to both academic and athletic programs, supports alumni associations and even signs student-athletes to name, image and likeness deals. Fobb also works directly with his partner colleges to craft custom apparel that feels more personal than corporate.

“We like to design different things for those clubs,” he says, “so they can feel special and have something unique of their own.”

SHOP THE COLLECTION

Visit the brick-and-mortar at 7566 Bluebonnet Blvd. or explore all of Anthony Lawrence Collection’s offerings at anthonylawrencecollection.com.

This article was originally published in the August 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.